Voting upgrades needed: This year's election was marred by challenges, confusion and occasional long lines of people waiting to exercise their American duty. Let's fix the problems, now: editorial

A crowd of early voters fills the lobby at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections on the Sunday before Election Day, as Gloria Oliver-Payton, a temporary worker, sorts through ballots. Ohio needs to do more to improve access to the ballot and to immunize the process from incessant partisan maneuvering. Lynn Ischay/The Plain Dealer

Despite all the fears and uncertainty unleashed by nearly two years of bitter legislative battles, lawsuits and red-hot partisan rhetoric, Election Day in Ohio went off with relatively few problems. There were long lines some polling places and scattered equipment glitches, but nothing compared to the problems seen in prior years or in other states, most notably Florida once again.

President Barack Obama's narrow yet clearly decisive victory in the state -- and nationally -- no doubt put a damper on post-election jockeying and muted potential claims. 'As Florida showed in 2000, grievances are loudest when the margin between victory and defeat is thinnest.

But Ohioans should not feel too cocky about the relative calm.

There are significant legal and operational issues -- especially around access, registration and provisional voting -- that need to be addressed in a reasonable, open-minded manner rather than via last-minute litigation, partisan maneuvering or overheated sound bites.

Doing so will require both Republicans and Democrats to lower their voices and move toward common-sense compromise.

A decade of partisan fighting has eroded many Ohioans' confidence in the most basic of democratic activities: voting. Citizens should expect politicians to argue forcefully about policy or personal differences. They should not expect -- or tolerate -- endless sparring over voting rules or questions of basic access and fairness.

Ohio Democrats this year had a legitimate case that the GOP was trying to limit in-person, early-voting options favored by many minority voters and college students -- for the brazenly partisan goal of suppressing Democratic turnout. That was reprehensible on the part of Republicans.

About our editorials

Plain Dealer editorials express the view of The Plain Dealer's editorial board -- the publisher, editor and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the newspaper.

• Email general questions or comments about the editorial board to Elizabeth Sullivan, editor of the editorial page.

But disagreements about voting hours often morphed into talk of outright disenfranchisement -- a hard argument to make in a state where people can start voting by mail or at their local boards of elections five weeks before Election Day.

So the first step toward fixing Ohio's election rules is for everyone to lower their voices, put away the legal manifestos and stop demonizing people with whom they have honest policy disagreements. Then, let's listen to those who know what they're talking about.

Start with the bipartisan professionals who have to carry out state laws and directives at the 88 county boards of elections and at individual voting centers; they know what works and what doesn't. Legislators in Columbus should also enlist legal scholars ----and look to national groups versed in best practices.

Four years ago, then-Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, summoned many of those practitioners to a post-election summit that produced some thoughtful recommendations -- many of which died on the partisan battlefield at the Statehouse. Her successor, Republican Jon Husted, says he plans no such public post-mortem, though he would be happy to help organize testimony from "real watchdog groups" when the General Assembly next takes up election law reform.

That's a big mistake. Husted should welcome a free-wheeling discussion, including with those who criticized him.

During this contentious election season, Husted often defended his partisan actions by saying that he was simply carrying out laws passed by the legislature. Even if Husted now feels like a pincushion -- with some of the most obvious wounds inflicted by a pair of federal judges who found either Ohio law or Husted's interpretation of it wanting -- Husted ought to invite his detractors to be part of the solution.

If he doesn't, then the legislative committees with jurisdiction over election law should make sure they hear from the broadest range of experts.

Ohio doesn't need another GOP wish list such as the since-repealed House Bill 194. It doesn't need a photo identification law such as the one that Husted, to his great credit, helped derail.

It does need a law that:

• Embraces technology to help register voters, track changes of address and verify a provisional voter's identity. Under Husted, Ohio's started down that path, but more can be done.

• Continues the state's commitment to expanded voting by mail and permits individual counties to decide which in-person, early-voting hours make sense for their citizens. Both types of early voting are important safety valves against long lines on Election Day, especially in the most populous counties.

• Clarifies rules for provisional voting. The aim should be to make sure every eligible voter can cast a ballot, not find technicalities that disqualify people -- or, as is alleged in a case the courts are still sorting out, to diminish the role of poll workers who might help minimize errors.

• Sets a deadline well before Election Day for directives from the secretary of state's office regarding voting procedures. That would allow time for any legal challenges to be adjudicated before final poll-worker training begins.

Then there are two even bigger changes that ought to considered, one by Ohio's constitutional review panel and one by the U.S. Congress.

For reasons first discussed in this space four years ago, Ohio ought to transfer responsibility for supervising elections from a partisan elected official -- the secretary of state currently -- to a professional office insulated as much as possible from political pressures. That's not a rap on Husted any more than it was on Brunner when we first raised the issue. Especially in today's toxic political climate, any elections chief with a D or R after his or her name will be subject to suspicion.

Finally, Congress needs to revisit a decision made in 1845 to hold national elections on the first Tuesday after a Monday in November.

In agrarian America, where Sunday was devoted to church, Wednesday was market day and voting often involved a long trip to the county seat, Tuesday became the day for balloting.

In today's society, voting on a weekend -- perhaps even for parts of two days -- or on a national holiday might make it easier for more eligible people to vote. And ease of participation should be the goal of everyone, regardless of party.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.